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Issue 138 Issue 11

Publications

Edited by Nessa O'Mahony, Poetry Ireland Review 138 is an Eavan Boland Special Issue, dedicated to the life and legacy of poet and activist Eavan Boland, who was a hugely popular editor of the journal from issues 121 to 129. This issue features personal tributes and reflections along with instructive essays focusing on collections and individual poems from Boland's oeuvre. Featured essayists include Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Thomas McCarthy, Mary Robinson, Colm Tóibín, Martin Evans, and Jody Allen Randolph.  

The issue also features new work from poets including Moya Cannon, Michael Longley, Supriya Kaur Daliwal, Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, Mícheál McCann, Sarpong Osei Asamoah, and Lauren Lawler, with new Irish-language poetry from Dairena Ní Chinnéide, Doireann Ní Ghríofa, and many others. The cover of Poetry Ireland Review138 features a detail from a painting of Eavan Boland as a child, painted by her mother Frances Kelly, with photographs and images within the issue tracking Eavan Boland's life as a poet, mother, and teacher. 

Poem of the week

Day Return by Aoife Lyall

They wander the streets with me, searching
for a steering wheel, a trolley, a pram, a hand.

I give them the edge of my scarf, the belt
on my coat, the button on my lapel, stuff them
in my pockets to burrow in the debris of home

receipts from that new old-fashioned sweet shop
wet wipes used for sticky fingers or muddy hands 
tags from new toys, tickets, coins. But it is no use.

Skin cracked, knuckles raw, fingertips barbed
like fishhooks from bottles plunged and scrubbed
in scalding water, my hands will not rest until

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